The Royal Wedding will cause a surge in electricity demand, with National Grid
expecting 400,000 kettles to be boiled after Prince William and Kate
Middleton have exchanged vows.

The utility giant is anticipating that extra television viewing of the royal wedding will cause an extra demand of between 1200 megawatts and 1600 megawatts.

Predicting the surge has proved complex but necessary for National Grid, as the company is in charge of matching electricity supply and demand exactly.

Experts have looked at the pattern of behaviour shown during previous Royal Weddings to try to work out how much extra power will be needed.

They don’t expect quite as high a power surge as was seen during the marriage of Prince Charles and Diana Spencer in 1981, which required 1,800 extra megawatts. This was during a different era when appliances were less energy-efficient.

But it will be much higher than the 750 megawatt increase during the marriage of Prince Edward and Sophie Rhys-Jones in 1999.

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A pick-up of 400 megawatts (the end of normal episode of EastEnders) is the equivalent of 160,000 kettles being boiled; 600 megawatts = 240,000 kettles being boiled; 1,700 megawatts (as per pick-up from last year’s World Cup) = 680,000 kettles; 1,800 megatts = 720,000 kettles

The forecast is also based on the demand of a May Day bank holiday, adjusting for the service length and appearance of the bride and groom along with the Queen on the balcony of Buckingham Palace.

Forecasting will only get National Grid so far. Its engineers have to act quickly to make sure fast generation is ready to provide electricity capacity at short notice. It says the “best and most flexible generation is pumped storage from North Wales and Scotland which can deliver power very quickly”.

This will be supplemented by a number of coal and gas fired generating units from all around the country.

Andrew Richards, Forecasting Analyst at National Grid, said: “Planning for major events like this is always fascinating – we get a real insight into the behavioural trends of the British public.”